tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-310458452018-12-18T03:31:43.696-06:00Milwaukee Streets and Midwest RoadsTravels in the Midwest, and thoughts on my former home of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-61368329912306337412009-01-21T21:28:00.002-06:002009-03-27T20:39:54.164-05:00Valley of the Condos<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425975252/" title="River Homes at Beerline by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/425975252_0e6f36406a.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="River Homes at Beerline" /></a><br /><br />I've heard all kinds of comments about the cornucopia of condominiums that has arisen along Commerce Street. Some people hate the modern designs. Some people hate the sort of people they believe must be moving into them. Some people point out the infamous construction flaws. Some people bemoan the loss of green space along the river.<br /><br />Many of complaints have some validity. It's unfortunately easy to find concrete spalling and bricks leaching calcite only a year or two after the end of construction. Gentrification is a real problem for lower-income and long-time residents. The Milwaukee River valley is indeed being nibbled away by development that should really have stopped at North Avenue.<br /><br />But new condos means more people - more <I>homeowners</I> - living in the city, and that is an indisputably good thing. It's good for the city's tax base, good for the schools, good for local businesses, good for the urban environment in general. Bemoan the condos all you like, but I'd sure rather see people spending their money in RiverWest than Brookfield. <br /><br />Likewise, I'd rather see this part of the city (this <I>is</I> the <I>city</I>, remember?) built up densely, rather than have the equivalent amount of suburban-style development spread out over open land at Milwaukee's fringes. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/426278126/" title="Commerce Bluff Condominiums by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/426278126_41d2108808.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Commerce Bluff Condominiums" /></a><br /><br />All the new construction has created some dramatic spaces. Commerce Street, formerly the site of some heavy industry and a rail yard, is a narrow slice of land sandwiched between a large hill and the Milwaukee River. The buildings that have gone up here since 2000 climb the hill, bury themselves into it, or perch alongside the river. Courtyards, porches, balconies, stairs and walkways create a layered pile of public and private spaces.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/457369533/" title="Condo Hill by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/198/457369533_d5cf8bde74.jpg" width="500" height="319" alt="Condo Hill" /></a><br /><br />One of the most exciting aspects of the whole development is just how much creative public infrastructure has gone in. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425900867/" title="Stairs to Brewers' Hill by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/165/425900867_d39965a509.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Stairs to Brewers' Hill" /></a><br /><br />The monumental Vine Street Stairs from Commerce Street up into Brewer's Hill has poetic quotes inscribed on its risers.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425900643/" title="Marsupial Bridge by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/156/425900643_d574c8dd6b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Marsupial Bridge" /></a><br /><br />The much-publicized Marsupial Bridge, suspended beneath the Holton Avenue viaduct, is a unique public space. It gives not only a sheltered view of the river and its banks, but also a close-up look at the bridge's massive structure. On wet days, it offers bicyclists a welcome respite from the rain, as well as a handy shortcut from downtown to RiverWest. The gathering space at the east end still seems a little seedy -- even a well-landscaped space under a bridge is still <I>under a bridge</I> -- but has been used for a number of delightful little gatherings, such as evening movie screenings. Likewise, the bridge itself isn't quite as isolated as one might expect; it's much lower to the street and visible that one might expect - though a security camera monitoring one end still gives pause.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/3210723647/" title="Milwaukee's own Rocky steps! by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3340/3210723647_526c37dedf.jpg" width="418" height="500" alt="Milwaukee's own Rocky steps!" /></a><br /><br />The Booth Streets Steps are another shortcut up the bluff to Brewer's Hill. They take dizzying flight into the sky before turning back and descending. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425900441/" title="Riverwalk by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/425900441_d308f1d354.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Riverwalk" /></a><br /><br />The Milwaukee Rowing Club's new ultra-modern boat storage building stands along the river in a break between two of the condo developments. Its low height allows it to disappear entirely from the street, leaving only the grass-covered roof. At the river, it extends the RiverWalk into a low plaza. That plaza became the site of tragedy in 2004, when two young neighborhood girls drowned in the river while playing on the boat dock. Railings were promptly installed along the RiverWalk in this location, prompting many to wonder why they weren't there in the first place.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/3211565944/" title="The boat house by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3520/3211565944_2411e7d40a.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="The boat house" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425900401/" title="North Avenue Dam bridge by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/173/425900401_ffd913302e.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="North Avenue Dam bridge" /></a><br /><br />The North Avenue Dam, long ago broken to release the river from its captivity, has been put to creative re-use as the base structure for a pedestrian bridge. It connects Riverboat Road to Caesar's Park, a tiny slice of public land including the southeast river bank and the huge bluffs, climbed by a switchback trail. The bridge's style is as modern as the condominiums it serves, with sleek, elegant lamp posts and utterly simple railings.<br /><br />Caesar's Park was rehabilitated around 2003; after years of being overgrown and potentially dangerous, much of the excess vegetation was cleared out, opening views across the river and eliminating the park's sense of dangerous isolation.<br /><br /><br />As for the condo buildings themselves, they're quite a mixed bag. Some are forgettable, one or two are rather dreadful, while several are delightful. It's a little heavy-handed to paint them all as sharing much in the way of style; they're all over the map.<br /><br /><B>Park Terrace Homes</B><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425969416/" title="Park Terrace homes by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/425969416_804f3a0ce9.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Park Terrace homes" /></a><br /><br />My personal favorites may be the Park Terrace homes, a long line of identical slender row houses tucked into the hillside. I'm a sucker for marching repetition and shadowy articulation, and the Park Terrace buildings have both in spades.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425969454/" title="Park Terrace homes by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/425969454_80e0a42146.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Park Terrace homes" /></a><br /><br />The facade is a little flat and uninspiring when viewed head-on, but that's not how it's meant to be seen, nor how most people will see it. Most passers-by will see the buildings in profile, and that's where they shine.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425969587/" title="Park Terrace homes by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/425969587_4dc5099f9b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Park Terrace homes" /></a><br /><br />More fascinating still, a <I>second</I> layer of houses stands further up the bluff, practical standing on top of the first-phase houses. A new road cut into the bluff leads in from North Avenue, serving both the basement-level garages of the upper houses... and the <I>rooftop garages</I> of the lower houses! The entire scheme is bold and audacious, a fascinating response to a difficult building site. (One hopes they got their civil and structural engineering in order, so the whole thing doesn't start creeping down the bluff or filling up with water every time it rains.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/3211568016/" title="Commerce Street, Milwaukee by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3384/3211568016_c858222e17.jpg" width="500" height="363" alt="Commerce Street, Milwaukee" /></a><br /><br />Not only that, the structures are a rare example of modern development that actually lives up to its name. It actually is a terrace, and it actually is in a park!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/3210722837/" title="The terrace by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3448/3210722837_fd48bf2364.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The terrace" /></a><br /><br /><br /><B>River Homes at Beerline</B><br />The River Homes at Beerline (see how many names you can squeeze out by recombining "River" "Park" "Homes" and "Beerline"?) line the Milwaukee River, and their terraces extend the River Walk ever closer to its ultimate destination of North Avenue. Sadly, they don't yet connect to the lengthier portions downtown, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425975054/" title="River Homes at Beerline by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/145/425975054_11e0d91638.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="River Homes at Beerline" /></a><br /><br />The River Homes are the earliest buildings here, and their modern stylings set the tone for many of the developments that came later. The buildings play with massing and materials; rectangular blocks overlap and intersect, while panels of brick give way to EFIS and wood siding as the buildings rise higher. Transom windows line pseudo-towers that rise above the building's mass at the river.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425974981/" title="River Homes at Beerline by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/186/425974981_c237b01e84.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="River Homes at Beerline" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/3210720999/" title="condos and river by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3525/3210720999_1011f6b50f.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="condos and river" /></a><br /><br /><br /><B>Trostel Square</B><br />Trostel Square stands on the site of a former tannery near the western end of Commerce Street. Like River Homes and Park Terrace, the buildings are emphatically modern, clad in a mix of metal panels and brick laid out in patterns that declare the cladding's independence from structure, and massing made of overlapping rectangular prisms emerging from one another. <br /><br />The buildings dare to use color, mixing light greens and oranges with brushed metal panels and red brick. It's a slightly awkward combination, but it brings welcome relief to what would otherwise be a very monochrome street.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425977907/" title="Trostel Square by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/161/425977907_352ccd64fb.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Trostel Square" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/3211566514/" title="Trostel Square by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3350/3211566514_32a35f65f1.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Trostel Square" /></a><br /><br /><B>Commerce Bluff</B><br />Amid all this unabashed modernism, the Commerce Bluff buildings are kind of a letdown. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/426278095/" title="Commerce Bluff Condominiums by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/161/426278095_f5191324d4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Commerce Bluff Condominiums" /></a><br /><br />Given a narrow site backed up against an insurmountable hill, a tall building was demanded. But the design here doesn't really celebrate that tallness. The gabled roofs seem to be taking a peck at historicism, but they just end up with blandness. A building that should be exciting simply because of its site and height instead is simply... dull.<br /><br /><br /><B>Union Point</B><br />When people comment about how the new condos are "ugly" or whatever other derogatory term they want to use, I always kind of assume they mean the Union Point building. Festooned with tacked-on balconies and saddled with ungainly facade proportions, the building looks like it suffered a head-on collision with a budget shortfall.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425964693/" title="Union Point by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/154/425964693_93979b4963.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Union Point" /></a><br /><br />I will say this: it has a very impressive profile.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425964602/" title="Union Point by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/185/425964602_e2742d9a15.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Union Point" /></a><br /><br />It also adapts to its awkwardly-shaped site, turning a massive block into a block with a twist.<br /><br />But those balconies just kill the whole thing. They're non-integral to the building in a way that's hard to forgive in a brand-new building, nor do they hold much appeal individually. If they'd been integrated into continuous bands -- as was actually done for the second floor, and again at the sixth -- they'd animate the building, bring controlled pattern and light to its surface, and a sense that the designer remained in control.<br /><br /><br /><B>River Court</B><br />South of Union Point sits River Court, another project that actually lives up to its name: all the units face a central courtyard, which opens up to the river.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425955961/" title="River Court by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/187/425955961_4ba9ec1eda.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="River Court" /></a><br /><br />Here the intended effect seems to be a big solid cube of gray brick, which has been selectively cut away in places to reveal windows and wood finish beneath. Every element of the building is either "carved" from the mass or seemingly clamped onto it. It's an interesting concept (you see it a lot in architecture school projects) and has been carried out seemingly without compromise. The resulting building is a little hard to love -- it's cool and withdrawn and not terribly exciting -- but it'd hard to dislike it, too, and who can argue with that big courtyard?<br /><br /><br /><B>RiverCrest Condominiums</B><br />The RiverCrest condominiums are another modern batch. Like the Park Terrace buildings, they are built into a steep hillside along the river. Like the River Homes, they play with massing and materials, piling rectangles high to the sky. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425948793/" title="RiverCrest Condos by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/173/425948793_228e14be89.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="RiverCrest Condos" /></a><br /><br />Most unusual on these buildings is the creme-colored split-faced brick. While perhaps intended to be a callback to Milwaukee's famous Cream City brick, for me it evokes nothing so much as the creamy-white brick popular in suburban houses of the 1960s that were shooting for the Camelot-era elegance of the time. Reinforcing that image is the stained wood garage doors.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/425948664/" title="RiverCrest Condos by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/425948664_b0ee17b957.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="RiverCrest Condos" /></a><br /><br />They also use the same carved-away trick as the River Court building, but to a lesser extent; side walls give way to recessed porches opening onto shared auto courts.<br /><br /><B>Riverbridge Condominiums</B><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/3210720671/" title="Riveredge by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3210720671_59c12dbb89.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Riveredge" /></a><br /><br />A rather plain bunch is the Riverbridge Condominiums, named for the adjacent Humboldt Avenue bridge over the river. Still, the bay window massing and integrated balconies are nice enough. The most dramatic views, however, come from the outside looking in, where one can see the riverside plaza supported on arching concrete cantilevers over the banks of the river. That terrace space is all semi-public, and perhaps one distant day it will be connected to the rest of the RiverWalk.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/426315678/" title="Riverbridge Condominiums by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/184/426315678_30ca224af3.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Riverbridge Condominiums" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/426315546/" title="Riverbridge Condominiums by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/426315546_3e05818c67.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Riverbridge Condominiums" /></a><br /><br /><br /><B>Highbridge Condominiums</B><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/426315632/" title="Highbridge Condominiums by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/186/426315632_0ae7749713.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Highbridge Condominiums" /></a><br /><br />Drama is the order of the day here, as yet another building tucks itself into a steep hillside. The Highbridge condos were the first to go up in this area, and still raise eyebrows with their soaring masses perched precariously on the hillside. There's something fascinating about the bay windows, which read as bits of the building's interior life bursting outwards, unable to be contained.<br /><br />The building's massing is complex, with different pieces overlapping and saying different things: "grand entry", "quietly domestic", "holy crap I'm flying!"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/3217150432/" title="Highbridge Condominiums by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3501/3217150432_8fdfee5a5f.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Highbridge Condominiums" /></a><br /><br />So steep is the site that the garage entrance is up top, from a dead-end street in the middle of the older neighborhood just north of Brady Street. At ground level, they're friendly enough, though the rest of the street isn't too inviting at present.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/426315857/" title="Highbridge Condominiums by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/161/426315857_de464c7966.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Highbridge Condominiums" /></a><br /><br />Highbridge suffered some rather infamous post-construction problems that led to a lot of lawsuits and misery. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/3210723301/" title="Commerce Street by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/3210723301_c5b7b01eab.jpg" width="500" height="328" alt="Commerce Street" /></a><br /><br />So, yeah, I really like the Valley of the Condos. It's an exciting place, unabashedly new and modern, friendly and welcoming to bikes and pedestrians, with some of the best public space in the city.<br /><br />Links:<br /><LI><A HREF="http://www.mkedcd.org/projects/blb/index.html">Milwaukee Department of City Development Beerline B page</A>Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-85895322879960456182008-10-23T15:59:00.002-05:002008-10-23T16:22:19.036-05:00Bye-bye baby blueMuch as I hated to admit it, I always figured that the blue brick Midcentury building at North and Prospect would be coming down. Sitting adjacent to an empty gas station and its own parking lot, it'd be an easy sacrifice to make, to allow combination of the lots and creation of one large building site.<br /><br />I was right... and I was wrong.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/207558852/" title="The blue brick building, Milwaukee by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/70/207558852_e216dc15d9.jpg" width="500" height="343" alt="The blue brick building, Milwaukee" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2962812687/" title="Blue building site by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/2962812687_c62f52c4a2.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Blue building site" /></a><br /><br />They tore down the blue building, alright -- much to my regret. But in its place is coming... a building of similar mass and footprint. Meanwhile, the gas station lot has got its own building already, a brand-new Bruegger's Bagels.<br /><br />Whahhhh?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2962813117/" title="North &amp; Prospect by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3158/2962813117_b60625241a.jpg" width="500" height="306" alt="North &amp; Prospect" /></a><br /><br />Make no mistake, this is definitely an improvement over the vacant gas station (even when it was occupied.) But... I'm a little surprised that something more ambitious didn't arise here.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the blue building will be replaced by a new branch building for the <A HREF="http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/08/04/story15.html">Educator's Credit Union</a>. Trading out a two-story building for a one-story building? How does that work?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2967981388/" title="Coming Soon by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3005/2967981388_4b5c992957.jpg" width="500" height="393" alt="Coming Soon" /></a><br /><br />The new building is purported to be a Prairie Style structure, though it's hard to discern from the rendering shown here. The architect, Racine's <A HREF="http://www.genesisarchitecture.com/index.html">Genesis Architecture</a>, does show some beautiful Prairie Style work on their web site, so perhaps it's just down to my crappy photograph of the sign.<br /><br />But I miss the blue building. It's yet another case of tearing down something not just because it's old, but because it's <I>the wrong kind of old</I>. We need a new old instead, an older old! The style of forty years ago is never new enough, and never old enough. By the time Midcentury Modern has aged enough to be old, valued and historic, by the time we're far enough removed from its time to look back on it with fresh eyes and truly appreciate it... Milwaukee will have torn it all down.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/118652943/" title="Blue brick by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/48/118652943_09f56aba02.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Blue brick" /></a><br /><br />Additionally, if the building absolutely had to go... I really wanted one of those bricks.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-45503698154382390762008-10-21T22:20:00.003-05:002008-10-21T22:31:50.444-05:0090 miles apartBeing in Milwaukee this weekend made me acutely aware of some of the differences between it and Chicago. It's more than just a matter of scale. The difference of size causes different attitudes, different mentalities.<br /><br />Milwaukee is a city that's still close to the land. It is shaped by topography, sitting atop 80-foot high bluffs that overlook Lake Michigan. It's a small city, small enough that people who essentially live out in the country can take part in its daily life, and people who live in the city have many options for outdoor sports and activities. That connection gives it an often rural attitude. People in Milwaukee come from small towns. They root for the Packers -- it's not just a cliche. They hike and fish and hunt and backpack and camp and canoe on their weekends. That same rural attitude, applied to city living, gives the city an air of smart environmentalism; it also means that Milwaukee sometimes fights against its own nature as a city (just look at the hew and cry over bus funding and rail transit, or the reluctance to convert 794 to a surface parkway, or the fuss over tearing down a useless stretch of highway, or...) Milwaukee is a small niche of the (reluctantly) man-made perched among the vast wilderness of Lake Michigan.<br /><br />Chicago by contrast has long since conquered nature, which is sequestered away in distant woodlands known collectively as the Forest Preserve. Chicago's Lake Michigan coast is entirely artificial, constructed over a hundred years of city-building, and gives an illusion of control over the vast body of water. The city sprawls for thirty miles in every direction, ensuring no easy escape from its artificial environment. The resources of the Great Lakes funnel down to Chicago, which is the drain through which they flow, the sieve that sorts them, the mill which grinds them up and churns out product. Chicago is less a part of Lake Michigan and more an engine strapped to its side, converting its resources to commercial goods and fountaining wealth across the region.<br /><br />At their cores, the cities may seem similar -- glistening downtowns perched on idyllic lakefronts (indeed, Milwaukee's lakefront is no less artificial than that of Chicago.) But the difference is in how they spread themselves across the land. In barely five minutes of driving north from downtown, Milwaukee's Gold Coast high rises give way to single family homes, and five minutes after that these houses gain their own private beaches and forests. By Whitefish Bay, the view up the coast is essentially the same as it will be for the next hundred miles. One must travel a good ten miles north of central Chicago to find a single-family home with a lake view. Milwaukee is a short interruption of nature; Chicago is its own nature.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-41943694532070844852008-10-02T22:26:00.003-05:002008-10-02T22:32:32.193-05:00A south side mystery<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2908132697/" title="Wadhams Gas Station by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3160/2908132697_39fd886006.jpg" width="500" height="347" alt="Wadhams Gas Station" /></a><br /><br />It began with <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/katherineofchicago/2884522696/">a photo on Flickr</a>, showing the well-known brick wall on 1st Street where a Wadham's gas station pagoda once stood. The building's outline remains embedded on the wall, along with part of a painted sign.<br /><br />"Oh," I commented. "I have a photo of that when it was still standing." But a dig through my film archives showed no such thing. Apparently, I was thinking of this place instead, which I photographed in the summer of 2001.<br /><br />I have no idea if it was a Wadham's or not. I'm not even sure where it stood -- somewhere between the Modjeska Theater on Mitchell Street, and St. Hyacinth's a few blocks south on Becher Street, to judge by the before and after images on my negatives.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2908977814/" title="Wadhams Gas Station by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3131/2908977814_a986d6340b.jpg" width="500" height="349" alt="Wadhams Gas Station" /></a><br /><br />Where was it? What was it? I turn to my readers for answers -- I have none!Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-87896986427637993842008-07-21T00:48:00.002-05:002008-07-21T01:21:39.368-05:00Discovery World<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2682274053/" title="View from the new breakwater by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/2682274053_67f3b2270f.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="View from the new breakwater" /></a><br /><br />It's hard to argue with the new Discovery World building. From the outside, it's a knockout from every angle. It's a beautiful compliment to the Art Museum addition, without aping it. <br /><br />I visited Discovery World about a year ago, and got to see how the inside relates to the outside. The building's functions are expressed well from the outside, about... 75% of the way through, I'd say. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/466663761/" title="Discovery World by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/181/466663761_c72bbe3374.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Discovery World" /></a><br /><br />The Headhouse is clearly distinct as a gathering point, a circular structure with balconies at the top. Those balconies surround a ballroom/meeting space, and provide spectacular views of the city, the lake, and the new harbor to the south. An awkward moment does occur when storage space winds up being placed on the outside of the third floor space, complete with windows and a view of the harbor. Oops! It might have been better placed in a block with the elevators nearby -- service functions like that should be grouped; it's a basic rule of thumb. It also emphasizes some of the inherent difficulty of a round building.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2682273803/" title="Lucky tables and chairs by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3058/2682273803_ddc06b73cc.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Lucky tables and chairs" /></a><br /><br />The main body of the building is laid out along a broad, tall corridor lined with windows facing the bay to the south, an attractive and open space that provides easy orientation. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2683091224/" title="The glass tube by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/2683091224_4ec302ee91.jpg" width="500" height="331" alt="The glass tube" /></a><br /><br />At the end, one turns right and enters the primary exhibit space, which is dominated by a double-spiral staircase with an elaborate moving model in the center. A window wall to the north provides continued orientation, and creates a delightful view of the colorfully-lit model by night.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2683091010/" title="Glowing in the night by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/2683091010_d8506709cc.jpg" width="500" height="306" alt="Glowing in the night" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/530869957/" title="Discovery World by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1348/530869957_02f9bb5fd5.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Discovery World" /></a><br /><br />Past this point, however, clarity starts to fall apart. A second room on the first floor kind of dead ends. The main room on the second floor is a bit chopped up by its exhibits, with no clear main circulation path. Classrooms and other interactive areas are accessed through an odd hallway that makes one hesitate to proceed, uncertain if they're headed toward a mock TV studio, the corporate offices, or the boiler room. It was at this point that I got the impression that this portion of the building had been designed from the outside in, rather than allowing the functions to generate the plan, and the exterior form to follow from that. <br /><br />Some of the second floor exhibits were still under construction when I visited, so it's possible things may become more clear with time. Some bold signs would have gone a long way toward clarifying what was where.<br /><br />Outside, the building and its grounds succeed brilliantly. What was once a completely forgettable section of the lakefront is now fully integrated with the parks and museum to the north, and the newly-opened Lakeshore State Park and the Summerfest Grounds to the south. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2683090808/" title="Facing the new harbor by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/2683090808_d0771ec01c.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Facing the new harbor" /></a><br /><br />The building's water-facing sides are wrapped with cantilevered walkways, offering exciting views of the new harbor and the lake waters to the south. The walkways hook up with a new breakwater with attached docks and a small connected amphitheater. The amphitheater faces a new dock for the sailing ship Dennis Sullivan. It's a brilliant expansion of Milwaukee's already-magnificent lakefront, and adds a worthy attraction to the lakefront's offerings. In light of that, a few architectural flukes are pretty negligible.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2683091448/" title="Discovery World by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3068/2683091448_aa0199d270.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Discovery World" /></a>Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-35748662820565131302008-07-16T20:17:00.004-05:002008-07-16T20:58:52.476-05:00Amtrak Station burdened by junk<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2675170657/" title="Amtrak station by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/2675170657_833cafb4eb.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Amtrak station" /></a><br /><br />I recently visited the spacious new waiting room of Milwaukee's remodeled passenger depot. Perhaps "depot" is a poor choice of words, because the building no longer treats passengers like cargo. The dark and minimal waiting area has been replaced with a vast, bright and airy space.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2675987388/" title="The Waiting Room by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3196/2675987388_797ee2d66c.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="The Waiting Room" /></a><br /><br />As a consequence of the narrow space available for the expansion, the waiting room features a strange set of proportions. It is as taller than it is wide, and <I>very</I> long, running uninterrupted for the 300-foot length of the building. The pick-up-sticks wall of angled steel box beams begs to be beheld from a distance, to be appreciated in its entirety, but it's not quite possible with the room's narrow width. <br /><br />Still, it is an airy and comfortable space, open and inviting, big but not overwhelming, much like Milwaukee itself. The white color continues a trend started by several of the city's most prominent new structures: the Art Museum addition, the 6th Street viaduct, and the new Discovery World building. <br /><br />Functionally, the space breaks up into three parts. The western half is used for Greyhound passengers; chairs ring a large open area. The center portion is a general dining/communal area, designated by three tall trees and round tables. The eastern half is for Amtrak passengers, and is marked by multiple rows of chairs.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2675987314/" title="The Window Wall by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3099/2675987314_6fb893afcd.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="The Window Wall" /></a><br /><br />This is not a pristine space; it is of course meant filled with chairs. Several large potted trees enliven the center of the space, breaking up the room's endless length. And the crazy-quilt structure of the window wall itself suggests some of the chaos naturally associated with travel. Yet there is something clean and crisp about it, and I was disappointed to find that the management has seen fit to clutter the entire space with junk.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2675170123/" title="Junk by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/2675170123_834f08d3a2.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Junk" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2675170041/" title="More junk, and soda. by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3068/2675170041_c5270cb1ab.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="More junk, and soda." /></a><br /><br />Much of this detritus was clearly not planned for, and was added after the fact. That monster game machine really should have its own dedicated space, in a game room somewhere (it makes a lot of noise as well, disturbing the peace of everyone waiting to travel.) And while trash cans and ATMs are necessary accoutrement of everyday life, there are ways to deal with them more elegantly than to jam them up against every available column. <br /><br />One of those ways, for example, is to provide a dedicated alcove for objects like vending machines. It's not beautiful, but at least it gets them out of the way. And it seems that someone had this in mind... but somewhere in the planning process, the fact that vending machines require electricity wasn't accounted for. And thus, while an alcove big enough for twenty soda machines does indeed line the south wall of the waiting area, it's empty, because there's nothing to plug the machines into.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2675169933/" title="Connect the dots by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3040/2675169933_0ae10f1fe9.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Connect the dots" /></a><br /><br />Instead, they cluster clumsily around the ends of the alcove, butting out into the concourse area, not only looking ugly in their own right but giving the space the sort of ad hoc messiness that really shouldn't be present in a freshly remodeled building. Even allowing for the mistake of not including enough outlets, one would think that fifty dollars would be available to pick up a couple of extension cords and get the machines into the alcove where they belong.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2675987138/" title="And more soda. by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3216/2675987138_152358f275.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="And more soda." /></a><br /><br />Attempts to lure a full-time restaurant to the station have not met with much success, but with this phalanx of vending machines, the station already has the equivalent of a small 7-Eleven. <br /><br />My one other criticism with the station's interior pertains to the Greyhound end of the waiting area. Travel by Greyhound is a catch-as-catch-can affair; one must wait in line to be assured of getting a spot on the bus. To that end, passengers typically use their luggage as a stand-in so they can sit while waiting. The open space of the waiting area serves this need adequately, providing plenty of seats surrounding the luggage line-up that allow passengers to keep an eye on their bags. Yet it remains a chaotic solution, and I wonder if other, more elegant alternatives were explored (integrating the line with the waiting room chairs, for example, or a numbering system.)<br /><br />Outside, it took a little bit of searching to locate the bike racks. They're tucked away behind the Greyhound boarding area on the building's west end, out of sight from the road (and nearly everything else.) I'm not sure how I feel about the arrangement; while it doesn't advertise the presence of locked bikes to passersby, it also doesn't seem to be a very well-watched area.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2675170301/" title="Hidden bike racks by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3265/2675170301_723c3d121a.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Hidden bike racks" /></a><br /><br />The bike racks are correctly installed, with plenty of room on all sides, and they are the multiple-U racks which are ideal for parking any type of bicycle. Having <I>any</I> racks at all is a great step up from the state of affairs during the renovation, and I do appreciate that bicyclists were given this thoughtful parking arrangement.<br /><br />Criticisms aside, the new waiting area is a welcome addition to the Milwaukee traveling experience. Hopefully the building's management will soon relocate some of the clutter that's currently dragging down an otherwise pleasant and modern space.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-52356150705208903312008-07-08T00:01:00.000-05:002008-07-08T00:00:25.017-05:00Pritzlaff Hardware BuildingJust across the river from the 3rd Ward is this monster of a building complex. The original two portions, with their endless marching windows and bays, were begun in 1875 as the Pritzlaff Building.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2645815295/" title="Pritzlaff Hardware Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3031/2645815295_0f54f765b1.jpg" alt="Pritzlaff Hardware Building" height="333" width="500" /></a><br /><br />The building originally held a hardware company that, in time, became Milwaukee's largest. The enterprise was begun by John Pritzlaff, a Prussian immigrant who arrived in Milwaukee in 1841. In 1850 he started his hardware company, which would eventually become one of the largest in the Midwest, employing some 400 persons at its peak. <br /><br />Leaving its original home on 3rd Street (still extant today), the company moved south to a site with railroad and river access. The new building was designed by John Rugee. The center portion of the east facade, dated 1875, came first; the corner portion to the north was likely the next addition. Overall the building was expanded at least three times, in 1916 among others, into a 300,000 square foot complex.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2645799081/" title="Pritzlaff Hardware Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2645799081_f9330ac307.jpg" alt="Pritzlaff Hardware Building" height="236" width="500" /></a><br /><br />Pritzlaff's son Fredrick would continue as president of the company until 1951; Frederick's son and grandson also entered the business. However, by then the company was in decline; it closed its doors in 1958.<br /><br />The buildings then became home to Hack's Furniture, who applied their own painted signs to its vast walls of Cream City brick. Hack's closed in 1984, but a family-owned storage business moved into the building.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2644386871/" title="Pritzlaff Hardware Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/2644386871_8665bab16c.jpg" alt="Pritzlaff Hardware Building" height="368" width="500" /></a><br /><br />The buildings were most recently occupied as a furniture store (The Mattress Store) and for storage, but have been largely vacant and underutilized for years. By 2000, the building <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2000/01/17/focus3.html">was under consideration</a> for conversion into a residential space, but no developers were willing to step forward, daunted perhaps by its considerable size.<br /><br />Six years later, however, Sunset Investors got the ball got rolling on a massive renovation, cleanup, and remodeling. The building is now being converted to a mixed-use project, including 86 condominiums, retail, office space, and a new parking garage that has yet to be built. The project is being overseen by Brookfield design firm Cityscape Archtecture.<br /><br />The renovation has cleaned the public faces of the building, washing away heavy layers of grime and soot accumulated in its 130-year history. The change is remarkable, letting the building's architectural beauty shine through unblemished.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2646645812/" title="Pritzlaff Hardware Building, spring 2000 by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018/2646645812_8a84929c7f.jpg" alt="Pritzlaff Hardware Building, spring 2000" height="353" width="500" /></a><br /><i>East elevation in March 2000</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2646645680/" title="Pritzlaff Hardware Building, summer 2008 by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3076/2646645680_32fa444c89.jpg" alt="Pritzlaff Hardware Building, summer 2008" height="368" width="500" /></a><br /><i>East elevation in June 2008</i><br /><br />While the renovated facades look unquestionably great, it is still a bit sad to see the building's physical history scrubbed away, losing the appearance of a building unaltered for a hundred years. The building has also lost the 1950s painted signs from the Hack's Furniture days.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2644386795/" title="Pritzlaff Hardware Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/2644386795_7a05fb77c1.jpg" alt="Pritzlaff Hardware Building" height="353" width="500" /></a><br /><i>North/west elevations, July 2005</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2644386959/" title="Pritzlaff Hardware Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2644386959_50164ec3bd.jpg" alt="Pritzlaff Hardware Building" height="333" width="500" /></a><br /><i>North/west elevations, July 2008</i><br /><br />Various painted signs for Pritzlaff Hardware remain on the back of the building at present, though the renovation may claim them as well. Some are over a hundred years old; it would be an unfortunate loss.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2646629416/" title="Pritzlaff Hardware Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/2646629416_a7968b9b94.jpg" alt="Pritzlaff Hardware Building" height="333" width="500" /></a><br /><i>Above: a painted Pritzlaff Hardware sign on one of the original buildings was partially covered over by a western building addition.</i><br /><br />The building's street facades are nothing short of remarkable. The various additions over the years are unified by their Cream City brick construction, and range in style from ornate Italianate to the largely unadorned 7-story addition to the south. An amazingly long line of windows marches down the Plankington Avenue side, beautifully rhythmic, their sheer number hinting at the heights of prosperity and money that drove the building's owners. <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1720623898/" title="3rd Ward Multiples II by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2101/1720623898_03893ba433.jpg" alt="3rd Ward Multiples II" height="333" width="500" /></a><br /><br />The building is remarkably well preserved, its cornice and Italianate brackets unaltered since their original 1875 construction. It street level storefronts are likewise virtually unaltered; the renovation has removed the various ad hoc alterations that did accumulate over the years, leaving a clean and lovely street facade.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2646628896/" title="Pritzlaff Hardware Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3076/2646628896_9baae6217e.jpg" width="500" height="331" alt="Pritzlaff Hardware Building" /></a><br /><br />Seeing this building renovated and on its way back to life is nothing short of uplifting. In its sheer size and power, it is one of the city's most remarkable structures.<br /><br /><ul>Links: <li> <a href="http://www.sunsetinvestors.com/pritzlaff.htm">Sunset Investors' page about the building</a></li> <LI><a href="http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=r555727p6m9s&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=5431697&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1">Aerial view from Maps.Live.com</a></LI></ul> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2643479454/" title="Pritzlaff Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3095/2643479454_4dbf358b49.jpg" alt="Pritzlaff Building" height="333" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><!-- A little bit of info/history http://www.swankparty.com/warehouselofts.htm Pritzlaff http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=1711&term_type_id=1&term_type_text=People&letter=P Pritzlaff family http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=324821 John Pritzlaff family http://www.immigrantships.net/v5/1800v5/alfred18390905.html Building in 2000 http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2000/01/17/focus3.html Still vacant in 2005 http://www.biztimes.com/news/2005/3/4/the-wrecking-ball-tolls Under renovation/for sale http://www.sunsetinvestors.com/pritzlaff.htm About the developer http://milwaukeecondo.blogspot.com/2007/11/business-journal-of-milwaukee-ugly.html http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2007/10/29/focus2.html?f=et177&b=1193630400%5E1541709&ana=e_vert Urban design awards http://www.onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/designawards08.html?page=2 At Emporis http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=pritzlaffhardwarebuilding-milwaukee-wi-usa -->Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-13081213894279451992008-06-25T13:55:00.002-05:002008-06-25T14:14:47.730-05:00Teweles Seed, before and afterContinuing to muck around in the eastern end of the Menomonee Valley....<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2611380310/" title="Teweles Seed, pre-renovation by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3063/2611380310_46606553e5.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Teweles Seed, pre-renovation" /></a><br /><br />This was Teweles Seed Company in 2003 -- a grungy-looking, ragged old industrial tower from 1918, in brawny concrete and battered brick and glass. The grounds were deserted, home to liittle more than ancient abandoned trucks and dumped tires.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2611380014/" title="Teweles Seed, post-renovation by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2611380014_db25329489.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Teweles Seed, post-renovation" /></a><br /><br />This is the <A HREF="http://www.tewelesseed.com/">Teweles building</a> today - remarkably renovated into rental apartments, with a shiney modern penthouse addition up top. <br /><br />It's way too easy to romanticize decay, to lament the passing of the old industrial face of Milwaukee and bemoan the coming of the dreaded condominiums. Don't fall for it. The City Needs More People -- this is the infallible mantra of the savvy urbanist, and will be for many, many years to come. This part of the 5th Ward is a frontier now, but check back in five to ten years and by rights it should be bustling.<br /><br />(All that said, they seem to be having <A HREF="http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/WI-Milwaukee-Teweles-Seed-Tower-Apartments.html">quite a few management problems</a>.)<br /><br />More before and after shots may be seen <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/sets/72157605811241782/">here</a>.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-69223026220266915872008-06-21T10:22:00.002-05:002008-06-21T10:37:53.252-05:00Harley Museum rising<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2555325790/" title="Harley Davidson Museum by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3034/2555325790_321b33bb4b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Harley Davidson Museum" /></a><br /><br />Long anticipated, greatly hyped, the Harley Davidson Museum is nearing completion. It's slated to open on July 12th.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2554502161/" title="Harley Davidson Museum by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2303/2554502161_2b2e662b41.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Harley Davidson Museum" /></a><br /><br />It's a sharp looking piece of modern design, courtesy of New York City's Pentagram Design. Its factory-like aesthetic fits nicely into the Menomonee Valley, long the city's industrial center.<br /><br />The campus is a bit sprawling for my tastes, but at least down in the Valley it's not taking away from denser areas. The Menomonee Valley is, by its nature, a large gap in the city's urban fabric. With no plans to change that, it's as good a place as any to host the museum, and having this sort of draw close to downtown is a definite plus.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2554500903/" title="Harley Davidson Museum by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3268/2554500903_6256cd23e6.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Harley Davidson Museum" /></a><br /><br />I'm very pleased to see the riverside landscaping and paths that have been included as part of the campus; presumably these will extend the Valley's biking and walking trails further east. They form a sharp contrast with the brutal rear wall of the main Post Office building across the river, showing just how much attitudes toward the river have changed in 40 years.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2555326076/" title="Harley Davidson Museum by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3064/2555326076_ffa1ec0432.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Harley Davidson Museum" /></a><br /><br />As for the building itself, <A HREF="http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=404145">Whitney Gould</a> summed it up nicely two years ago: it's no Calatrava-aping showstopper, but it's taut and disciplined, cooly and respectably modern. I look forward to seeing the interior, and what spatial surprises await within.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-29553252900389625842008-06-07T23:21:00.006-05:002008-06-14T10:20:36.277-05:005th Ward Building CollapseThe <A HREf="http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=6/7/2008&id=40954">Journal-Sentinel reports</a> that the Phillip Weimer Building, at 6th Street and National Avenue, has suffered a major roof and sidewall collapse amid today's heavy rains.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2560375208/" title="Phil Weimer Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/2560375208_2e12255f27.jpg" width="500" height="338" alt="Phil Weimer Building" /></a><br /><I>June 1, 2008, just a week before the collapse. The small house at right was largely destroyed by the collapse.</I><br /><br />The 1892 Romanesque building is part of an amazing lineup of Victorian commercial buildings at the intersection and in the surrounding blocks, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its loss will diminish one of Milwaukee's major historical treasures. The front facade, at very least, should be preserved.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2560380568/" title="Phil Weimer Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2560380568_d01f1729bc.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Phil Weimer Building" /></a><br /><I>October 2006</I><br /><br />Originally built to house a wine and liquor business, the building was most recently home to the Acapulco Lounge, which was closed for renovation. A small fire was reported, but quickly snuffed by firemen. No injuries are reported.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2560375256/" title="Phil Weimer Building by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3057/2560375256_df1eea2170.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Phil Weimer Building" /></a><br /><br />Post-collapse photos may be seen <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sperophotography/2561245674/">here</a>.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-71865214231449545862008-06-07T11:39:00.002-05:002008-06-07T11:55:16.221-05:00The Corpse of Prospect MallProspect Mall has been sitting empty for nearly two years now. In 2006, the mall booted out its last few tenants (the Chocolate Factory, a used bookstore, a dismal first-run movie theater) and turned out the lights. What could be done with this vacant hulk?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2558088499/" title="Prospect Mall by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/2558088499_e56174bd80.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Prospect Mall" /></a><br /><br />My first thought was to turn the whole thing into a movie complex. Gut the interior completely, add more screens, completely renovate everything. Add in a couple of restaurants facing a luxurious interior lobby space for a complete all-in-one stop for an evening on the town. Don't make it an interior arcade -- the building's too small for it to work. Make it one single space, lined by storefronts. The East Side already has two great theaters, but they're focused on art house films. A first-run theater might do well, especially if it was maintained to high standards, unlike the ratty Prospect Mall Theater.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2558088439/" title="Prospect Mall by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2558088439_3e48f745e7.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Prospect Mall" /></a><br /><br />My second thought: tear the whole thing down. There's an old brick building under there somewhere, but as it currently stands, the exterior is an EFIS-slathered nightmare, and the interior is a badly dated 1970s attempt at rustic ambiance. The lot is big enough to support something massive, a 5- or 6-story building with retail all around the base. There's no shortage of market demand for the area. <br /><br />But when I went to get photographs, I discovered that, hey, the brick building might be something pretty nice:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2558913192/" title="Prospect Mall by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3106/2558913192_2ac63eb5d1.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Prospect Mall" /></a><br /><br />That's some handsome brickwork. That's worth saving. <br /><br />So now I’m back to my first position: gut it. Redo it. Take off the awful EFIS cladding; repair the brickwork (the building housing World of Wings a quarter mile south offers a perfect precedent.) Restore the storefronts, tie the building into the street, set up a small but quality first-run mainstream movie theater within. <br /><br />And by doing so, get the black hole out of the East Side's heart.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-82009905136151433912008-06-06T09:46:00.003-05:002008-06-06T10:07:02.684-05:00S.G. Courteen Seed Corporation WarehouseIf you've ever driven south from the river down 2nd Street, you've seen this monstrous mountain of a building, its wedge-shaped form cutting an 11-story slice into the sky.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2555520521/" title="S.G. Courteen Seed Corp. Warehouse by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/2555520521_90c6f54979.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="S.G. Courteen Seed Corp. Warehouse" /></a><br /><br />Like a heavy-duty iteration of New York City's Flatiron Building, the knife-edge end of the Courteen building seems to lead a parade of industrial architecture up from the 5th Ward.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2555520343/" title="S.G. Courteen Seed Corp. Warehouse by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3113/2555520343_193d6b09d1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="S.G. Courteen Seed Corp. Warehouse" /></a><br /><br />In fact, the narrow end is the back side of the building. The front faces south, on Pittsburgh Avenue, and is rather tame by comparison.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2555520433/" title="S.G. Courteen Seed Corp. Warehouse by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3057/2555520433_d3f4ced1cb.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="S.G. Courteen Seed Corp. Warehouse" /></a><br /><br />The building's original owner went out of business in the 1960s. Not much seems to have been done with the property since then, but a lack of boards and broken windows indicates some form of use and occupancy. Its owner proposed a residential redevelopment in 2006 (see article linked below), but to date only minimal work on the building is visible, mostly along the roofline. Delays in commercial development are extremely common, however, especially in the financing stage; it could still be coming. Hopefully it won't involve chopping up those amazingly huge Cream City brick walls.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2556346652/" title="S.G. Courteen Seed Corp. Warehouse by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/2556346652_6d9f7615b3.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="S.G. Courteen Seed Corp. Warehouse" /></a> <LI> <A HREF="http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=r54h867p6gyt&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=5431729&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1">Aerial view</a> from Maps.Live.com. <br /><LI><A HREF="http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2006/02/27/story2.html">After 40 years, Thatcher plans $40 million project</a> - February 2006 Business Journal articleRobert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-7196634537956809232008-06-03T18:58:00.003-05:002008-06-03T20:57:07.280-05:00Bradley Tech: the old and the newThis blog's ostensibly about architecture, but in truth I'm so preoccupied with matters of urban design and historic preservation that I almost never get around to actually talking about architecture. So let's rectify that, shall we? <br /><br />But first, a topically related preservationist lament:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2549814946/" title="Bradley Vocational Technical High School by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2380/2549814946_5c4f392d51.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Bradley Vocational Technical High School" /></a><br /><br />At the intersection of W. Bruce Street and S. 4th Street, where the massive Bradley Tech High School once stood, remains nothing but an empty field of mud.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2548994113/" title="Bradley Vocational Technical High School by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/2548994113_8943e67830.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Bradley Vocational Technical High School" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2549821542/" title="Bradley Vocational Technical High School demolition by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3044/2549821542_5f87bc3e54.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Bradley Vocational Technical High School demolition" /></a><br /><br />I was disappointed that nothing was preserved from this building, which came down in 2006. In particular, the west entrance formed a brilliant termination to Bruce Street, a grand civic statement now lost and not guaranteed to be recovered in whatever eventually takes shape on the site. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2548989575/" title="Bradley Vocational Technical High School by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2364/2548989575_2fbf33b51d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Bradley Vocational Technical High School" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2548989839/" title="Bradley Vocational Technical High School by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/2548989839_df6aca6e49.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Bradley Vocational Technical High School" /></a><br /><br />The old building was an enormous structure, built in several stages beginning around 1906 as Boys' Tech, and filling more than a city block. It was intimidating but grand; built in sections as it was, surely some of it could have been gutted and reused. The site as currently planned will serve as athletic fields for the school.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2549063805/" title="Bradley Tech by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3123/2549063805_c11f6ff003.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Bradley Tech" /></a><br /><br />The new Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School, meanwhile, sits immediately to the south, facing W. National Avenue betweeen 3rd and 4th Streets. The building consists of a round-roofed section, flanked by two more standard box-shaped wings. It is seductive with its strong forms and shiny materials. However, I was rather confused by what I could make out of the interior.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2543277721/" title="Bradley Tech High by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2398/2543277721_01137a927b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Bradley Tech High" /></a><br /><br />The exterior of the building is a classic Modernist Big Idea: we're gonna make this thing a half-cylinder, lying on its side, intersected by a series of vertical masonry cores. It's bold, it's powerful, it's iconic. Ordinary buildings are based on a floor plan which is then extruded vertically, but this one's a giant hoop, extruded horizontally. That's the Big Idea, the image you see from the street before you ever set foot inside. The result of that idea is that the building should be <I>sectional</I> -- elements that occur at one end should carry through the length of the building. The curve of the roof should provide the basis for orientation throughout the building. However, from what I could see from the outside, the building doesn't seem to work that way. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2549821056/" title="Bradley Tech High School by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/2549821056_63b275513b.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Bradley Tech High School" /></a><br /><br />One end of the cylinder has a massive open atrium, the width of the building. This portion does indeed take full advantage of the building's iconic shape, with the curved roof exposed high above the entry doors, and a massive wall of north-facing glass filling the space with light. <br /><br />But south of that, it's solid labs and workshops (and, presumably, corridors.) The raw metal cladding of the cylinder ends before it reaches the ground, leaving a narrow exterior passage framed by curving structural members, but this is the only sectional element I could discern from the outside. Viewed from the inside, the Big Idea gets lost.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2548992975/" title="Bradley Tech High School by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3151/2548992975_395ed960ec.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Bradley Tech High School" /></a><br /><br />What else could have been done? Historically, a big, odd shape like a cylinder denotes a large open space -- a gymnasium or an auditorium (or an atrium). Curves are odd shapes -- computer age or not, we still live in a world of orthogonal construction. So you don't want to have to cut walls off to meet them or have glass made to fit their varying profiles. You wanna enclose it once and not touch it again. And the curve is a special shape, so it should remain visible; you don't want to bury it under a dropped ceiling.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2548992063/" title="Bradley Tech High School by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3069/2548992063_f6a1de648a.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Bradley Tech High School" /></a><br /><br />So, the building could have been designed as a "building within a building" -- classrooms pulled back from the exterior skin, window walls along the classrooms allowing outside light to filter in, mezzanine balconies replacing typical hallways (enclosed in glass, of course, since the last thing you want to give a bunch of high school kids is the irresistable chance to drop things on their classmates three stories below), all of it opening onto a multi-story windowed west wall. Let that strange curved roof play through on the inside as well as the outside.<br /><br />Why didn't it play out that way? Could have been any number of reasons. Big atriums require a bigger building. Big buildings cost more money to build, maintain, cool, and heat. But if that ended up being the case, why use a form that screams out "sectional building"?<br /><br />Some of the oddness also comes to light in the meeting of the cylinder with its two adjoining wings, which are both more traditional in form. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2549890390/" title="Bradley Tech by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3085/2549890390_307090f3e5.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Bradley Tech" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2548991381/" title="Bradley Tech High School by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3110/2548991381_9f0c3e7435.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Bradley Tech High School" /></a><br /><br />I may be coming down a little hard on this building. Compared to about 95% of the blobby nonsense that's hyped up in the glossy magazines these days, it's utterly practical, and unlike a lot of ultra-modern glass containers, it does have a strong visual identity, a sense of form and mass. Without that cylinder, the building wouldn't be nearly as memorable. But it does seem to suffer from a similar problem as the blobs, wherein a sexy shape is selected for the outside, and then the inside is compelled to fit within.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2548990353/" title="Bradley Tech High School by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2548990353_aae8a45936.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Bradley Tech High School" /></a>Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-84209658275983033422008-06-02T10:15:00.003-05:002008-07-16T20:58:52.476-05:00Milwaukee's new Amtrak station has a bizarre problemIn town this weekend, I briefly stopped by the newly completed Amtrak station. It looks pretty sharp. I felt a subliminal sense of letdown that the whole area wasn't magically transformed into some majestic gateway to the city, but that's far to much to ask of one little building. The traffic flow, the loading areas, and the existence of a waiting area with natural light are all a huge improvement over the pre-renovation depot.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2543286609/" title="Amtrak Station renovation complete by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2128/2543286609_a65dfc3c7c.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Amtrak Station renovation complete" /></a><br /><br />Didn't have time to go inside, sadly. But I did notice something very strange on the glass facade:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2544109382/" title="What.. the.. hell? by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/2544109382_72eef51421.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="What.. the.. hell?" /></a><br /><br />The seagulls, it would seem, have been leaving presents for Milwaukee travelers.<br /><br />It looks like they must perch on that little L-shaped ledge, with the step up creating a nicely secure spot for them. With downtown's itinerant gull population most recently displaced by the Harley Museum, it's not too surprising that the gulls would quickly latch onto a new perch. I didn't <I>see</I> any while I was there, but my visit was too short to be a representative sample. And if they're not perching there, then they must be dive-bombing it, which... well, that's just too bizarre to fathom, and the marks don't look right for that anyway.<br /><br />There's a simple and unobtrusive solution, fortunately. Expect some bird spikes to show up on the station's roofline shortly.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-81937599625004452752008-04-04T00:10:00.001-05:002008-04-04T00:12:20.185-05:00Retro post #4: Mother of Good Counsel Church<I>Before I started this blog, I made a few posts about Milwaukee on my <A HREF="http://builtstlouis.blogspot.com/">St. Louis blog</a>. I'm reposting them here where they're more relevant. This one went up on <A HREF="http://builtstlouis.blogspot.com/2006/06/mother-of-good-counsel-church-lisbon.html">June 23, 2006</A>.</I><br /><br /><A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/sets/72157594174615861/"><IMG SRC="http://static.flickr.com/61/173078680_716e55ffdf.jpg?v=0"></a><br />Mother of Good Counsel Church, Lisbon at 70th, Milwaukee Wisconsin. Built 1966-68.<br /><br />How have I never seen this place before???<br /><br />It's a beautiful massing of a curved brick screen wall, capped with limestone and studded with protruding bricks, behind which stands a diamond-shaped sanctuary with narrow bands of stained glass.<br /><br /><A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/sets/72157594174615861/"><IMG SRC="http://static.flickr.com/66/173078652_124052408a.jpg?v=0"></a><br /><br /> Next to it is a small parish office building, which brings together a number of fairly typical Mid-Century design elements (the vertical pier intersecting the horizontal plane, the rectangular cutouts, the limestone surrounds), but in an unusually high density -- and with a couple of elements I've never seen before. <br /><br /> Most flabergasting is this original doorway:<br /><br /><A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/sets/72157594174615861/"><IMG SRC="http://static.flickr.com/55/173078630_7c3a530b8a.jpg?v=0"></a><br /><br /> I can't believe they designed this -- let alone that it's still here 40 years later. Magnificent!!<br /><br />Click the images for more photos.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-26037441133803517782008-04-03T00:05:00.001-05:002008-04-03T00:06:47.332-05:00Retro post #3: Goodbye and good riddance to the Whaling Wall<I>Before I started this blog, I made a few posts about Milwaukee on my <A HREF="http://builtstlouis.blogspot.com/">St. Louis blog</a>. I'm reposting them here where they're more relevant. This one went up on <A HREF="http://builtstlouis.blogspot.com/2006/05/goodbye-and-good-riddance-to-whaling.html">May 10, 2006</A>.</I><br /><br />Milwaukee lost an iconic landmark this week, and I couldn't really care less.<br /><br /><A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/144371264/"><IMG SRC="http://static.flickr.com/44/144371264_755fe5ab12.jpg?v=0"></a><br /><br />The "Whaling Wall", a mural by an artist known as Wyland, adorned the Milwaukee County Courthouse Annex since 1997. It was well-known due to its position above the heavily-traveled lanes of I-43 southbound. There's been some hemming and hawing about losing the mural, which was demolished this week along with the last remnants of the aging, decaying Annex, a 1960s parking garage with a level of offices on top.<br /><br />Frankly, I say screw the wall.<br /><br />There are no whales in Milwaukee. In the wild, there are no whales within a thousand miles of Milwaukee. There is no aquarium here (well, that's due to change this year with the opening of the new Discovery World building, which will feature a modest aquarium.) The whale mural, basically, has jack all to do with this town. <br /><br />It is simply an advertisement for Wyland's art business, and a rather kitchy one at that.<br /><br />The mural is hardly <A HREF="http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=wyland+mural&spell=1">unique</A>; Wyland has plastered them on buildings all over the country. And Wyland is hardly some starving artist struggling to find an audience; his <A HREF="http://www.wyland.com">web site</A> is a slick commercial venture that looks primed for commerce on a fairly massive scale. For once, I agree with County Executive Scott Walker -- make the guy pony up to plaster his ad on the side of a public building. And for love of all that is holy, keep it off the pristinely Modernist building of the <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ftzgene/111747258/">Milwaukee Public Museum</a>, which Wyland has apparently been slavering over for ten years.<br /><br />So, let the commuters lament the loss of the whale wall. I'll celebrate the now unobstructed County Courthouse, an impressively massive Classical building that looms over the freeway like a mountain. There are causes far more worth fighting for in Milwaukee than preservation of a lowbrow mural.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-42565121621176014242008-04-02T00:37:00.001-05:002008-04-02T00:37:34.177-05:00Retro post #2: Modernist churches in Milwaukee<I>Before I started this blog, I made a few posts about Milwaukee on my <A HREF="http://builtstlouis.blogspot.com/">St. Louis blog</a>. I'm reposting them here where they're more relevant. This one went up on <A HREF="http://builtstlouis.blogspot.com/2006/04/modernist-churches-in-milwaukee.html">April 1, 2006</A>.</I><br /><br />Milwaukee has a nice collection of 1950s-1960s era Modernist churches, which make for a nice around-the-town tour as they're scattered across the inner suburbs and newer areas of the old city.<br /><br />Click on any of the photos to view lots more of them on my Flickr.com account.<br /><br /><A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/sets/72057594091631492"><IMG SRC="http://static.flickr.com/46/118605218_7d8d1f5c5c.jpg?v=0"></A><br />St. Stephen Martyr Church (now Chapel), N. 51st Street - 1969<br />A symphony of piercing angles and lapping shadows.<br /><br /><br /><br /><A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/sets/72057594091629978/"><IMG SRC="http://static.flickr.com/42/118605325_546f2e3fce.jpg?v=0"></a><br />St. Matthias, 9300 W. Beloit Road - 1967<br />It features a finely detailed roof more powerful than a ship's prow, and a commanding corner wall of stained glass that glows spectacularly in the afternoon sun.<br /><br /><br /><A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/sets/72057594091632594/"><IMG SRC="http://static.flickr.com/56/118604630_63030f9449.jpg?v=0"></a><br />St. Rita, S. 60th Street<br />A glowing lantern of a building, with half the walls washed away by stained glass. The original architect returned to oversee a restoration in 2003, shortly before his death. It suffers from it city context; it's clearly an object, meant to be sitting like a crown on a hilltop.<br /><br /><A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/sets/72057594091633018/"><IMG SRC="http://static.flickr.com/50/118604992_5acd6bc135.jpg?v=0"></a><br />Walther Memorial Lutheran Church, 4000 W. Fon du Lac - 1954<br />Fairly stock low Modernism -- right down to the characteristic orange brick.<br /><br /><br /><A HREF=""><IMG SRC="http://static.flickr.com/14/119069768_e7c346fee2.jpg?v=0"></a><br />Sacred Heart Academy and Monastary, 7300 S. Highway 100, s. of Hales Corners<br />Robert Venturi would call it a duck -- it's a building in the shape of the object it represents, in this case a giant crown. But within the bounds of the kitchy overall design are a number of enamoring details, including a wonderful arcade.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-40566724943917583272008-04-01T15:00:00.002-05:002008-04-01T15:03:27.401-05:00Retro post #1: Farewell to West Milwaukee<I>Before I started this blog, I made a few posts about Milwaukee on my <A HREF="http://builtstlouis.blogspot.com/">St. Louis blog</a>. I'm reposting them here where they're more relevant. This one went up on <A HREF="http://builtstlouis.blogspot.com/2006/02/farewell-to-west-milwaukee.html">26 February, 2006</A>.</I><br /><br />I passed by West Milwaukee today, the industrial-based inner-ring suburb attached to Milwaukee's western flank. The road running south from Miller Park stadium has long been a fascinating vista of towering grain elevators -- almost a hundred of them -- and mighty factories. It was a land of heroic architecture, concrete mountains that stood pure and powerful and enormous in the slanting light of a late afternoon sun.<br /><br />But, no more.<br /><br />Last summer, with the 2003 closure of the Froedtert Malt Corporation's West Milwaukee operation and a corn milling plant run by Archer Daniels Midland company a year later, a series of the grain elevators began coming down; this month, most of the remaining ones are coming down, as I discovered this evening. Layers of building have already fallen, revealing a second layer behind them. Generic big box retail will replace them all, as Miller Park Way (still known as 43rd Street elsewhere in the city) evolves into another version of S. 27th Street.<br /><br />How depressing. One can already surmise what's going to go into this place, how dreadfully dull and boring it's going to look, how placeless and forgettable.<br /><br />Even if I'd had my camera, the light was already too dim for photographs. I don't know when I'm going to be able to get out there in daylight -- maybe Friday. The old axiom proves true yet again: photograph now, for it'll be gone next time you're there. Only the southernmost stand of Froedtert elevators remain untouched, and I'm sure their time is coming up quickly.<br /><br />Photographs from January, 2004:<br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis03.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis01.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis02.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis04.jpg" /><br /><br />I've always loved the bizarre juxtaposition of the lightweight Italianate office/research building with the massive, purely functional behemoths directly behind it. The office is gone now, reduced to a few chunks of concrete foundation. The elevator won't be far behind. <br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis05.jpg" /><br /><br />Photographs from October, 2004: <br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis11.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis10.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis12.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis15.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis16.jpg" /><br /><br />The old Hotpoint Appliance factory across the street, with its stout smokestack and multiple rail spurs curving into its grounds, is now stripped of facade and in mid-demolition.<br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis13.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis14.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis09.jpg" /><br /><br />Demolition photographs from July 2005:<br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis07.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.builtstlouis.net/journal4/westallis08.jpg" /><br /><br />Up the street, new suburban-style strip malls are sprouting faster than the weeds growing between the railroad ties. The very character of this part of town is transforming before our eyes, a tidal wave shift from industrial to residential and retail. I can't fathom what recyclable use such a gigantic collection of industrial structures might have, but I still feel keen regret at the change: when it's over, I won't really have any reason to stop along this stretch of road again. Everything that made it unique, everything that gave it such a commanding presence, will be gone.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-42265935677549899732008-03-29T00:03:00.003-05:002008-03-29T00:11:23.078-05:00Coast Guard Station farewellSad news: the lakefront Coast Guard Station is rubble. <br /><br />The full story is in <A HREF="http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=732153">the Journal-Sentinel</a>.<br /><br />Photos can be seen <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/retinalfetish/2365376594/in/pool-milwaukeearchitecture">here at Flickr</a>.<br /><br />(and no, I haven't forgotten Milwaukee! I'm planning on some return trips, and blog updates, once spring becomes a little more spring-like.)Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-77158149510577410302007-12-09T12:26:00.001-06:002008-04-22T13:13:54.416-05:00A short reflectionIt dawned on me one day what makes Milwaukee so cool.<br /><br />In short, it's big enough to have lots of cool stuff -- but small enough that the cool stuff is concentrated in a relatively small area.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1405683324/" title="Dennis Sullivan by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1339/1405683324_392bd5cb9a.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Dennis Sullivan" /></a><br /><br />I used to regard this as a shortcoming. I love to wander cities on my bike, and it seemed like Milwaukee just didn't offer all that much territory that was worth wandering about in. By the time you hit West Allis, you've reach the end of the interesting stuff. The northwest stretches on for mile after boring mile. The south is fascinating in its diversity and vital struggling immigrant growth, but it's pretty finite, cut off sharply at 35th Street and more dully around Oklahoma. <br /><br />But what you have left -- the East Side, downtown, Riverwest, KK and Bayview, and above all the lakefront -- are just packed to bursting with interesting things and people.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1404798443/" title="The Shamrock Club practices by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1054/1404798443_ec141af8e3.jpg" width="500" height="350" alt="The Shamrock Club practices" /></a><br /><br />Consider an evening in September. I stopped at Bradford Beach to watch volleyball and parasurfers. I biked past hundreds of docked boats at the marina, in all sizes and degrees of extravagance. I stopped to watch a rugby team practicing. I then followed the sound of bagpipes to find a troop of bagpipers rehearsing. As I watched and listened, a tall ship sailed past, while a tech school class learned surveying techniques, and a parade of walkers, joggers, and bikers passed by, and the sun set in fiery colors behind the downtown skyline.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1405683146/" title="Surveying class by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1386/1405683146_be1b84a1f3.jpg" width="500" height="312" alt="Surveying class" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1405683550/" title="Sailboat jungle by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1164/1405683550_71801b7a01.jpg" width="500" height="371" alt="Sailboat jungle" /></a><br /><br />Where else can you find that much going on in such a small space?! Where else?!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1404798111/" title="Downtown sunset by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1109/1404798111_56af7258f3.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Downtown sunset" /></a>Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-31118333031656281512007-11-19T09:40:00.000-06:002007-11-19T10:10:04.817-06:00Brady Street Bike Lanes?A friend who bikes a lot to get around recently put to me this proposition: Brady Street desperately needs bike lanes.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2046856349/" title="Brady Street, looking east by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2404/2046856349_ee87ab3f9c.jpg" width="500" height="353" alt="Brady Street, looking east" /></a><br /><br />How're they going to get them? I immediately asked. Simple, came the answer: get get rid of the street parking. <br /><br />The merchants will never, ever go for it, I said, and with good reason: businesses thrive on that kind of easy, short-term, highly visible parking. Parking doesn't have to be physically close, but it has to be <I>percieved</I> as close, easily accessible and easily found.<br /><br />But then I thought about it further. Brady does get a lot of bike traffic already; it's at the core of Milwaukee's most bikeable neighborhood. How much would that increase by if it weren't so narrow and intimidating? Would it perhaps be so bad to sacrifice parking on <I>one</I> side of the street? Would the loss be compensated by an increase in bike and other foot-based traffic?<br /><br />FYI, I count about 30 parking spaces on the north side of Brady, east of Humbolt; and roughly the same number west of Humbolt. Would 60 short-term parking spots be an acceptable loss?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2046856149/" title="Brady Street, looking east from Humboldt by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2073/2046856149_0494f90694.jpg" width="500" height="368" alt="Brady Street, looking east from Humboldt" /></a><br /><br />It's hard for me to be completely objective. When I ride Brady Street, I'm usually going nearly the same pace as traffic -- sometimes faster. When you're keeping up with the cars, it's easy to justify taking a lane, and the moving cars don't seem so intimidating when you're going nearly the same speed. It's more important to take the lane, too. At those speeds, getting hit by the opening door of a parked car ("doored") could be fatal. So I've never worried much about a lack of bike lanes.<br /><br />Lots of other people ride more slowly, however, and to them the cars are whizzing past at breakneck speed. Either that, or they're stuck behind the bicyclist, poking along at 10 miles an hour, wishing there was some chance to pass. Bike lanes would reduce or eliminate this problem.<br /><br />Having lanes on one side of the street would also reduce by half a biker's chance of getting doored.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2047645828/" title="Brady Street, looking west by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2049/2047645828_1ca0f0cda9.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Brady Street, looking west" /></a><br /><br />On the minus side, the perception of a wider street would inevitably lead to faster-moving traffic. One reason I can keep up with traffic on Brady is that the cars are only going 25 mph or so, sometimes less. That's about the fastest speed that feels safe in Brady Street's narrow confines. Widen the street and the safest perceived speed will rise, and actual speeds with it. This would in turn degrade the slow-moving, pedestrian-scaled ambiance that makes Brady Street so appealing to begin with, the physical scale that makes it seem like it'd be a good place to ride a bike -- a far more damaging loss than the elimination of a few dozen parking spots.<br /><br />I had a professor once who made the point that pedestrian malls are only a good idea when a place is so crowded that there's no more room for vehicles. He noted that if any street in Milwaukee might be headed that way, it's Brady -- but it had a long way to go before it hit that point. I'd say it still has a long way to go before cutting out a lane of traffic would have more positive than negative results.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/2047646050/" title="Brady Street, looking west by repowers, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2317/2047646050_e99dc2127b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Brady Street, looking west" /></a> <br /><br />On a related side note -- those traffic-calming sidewalk bump-outs aren't doing Milwaukee cyclists any favors. I live in dread fear of hitting one of those things dead-on and going flying over the handlebars.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-68902692331378810242007-11-08T08:48:00.000-06:002007-11-08T09:08:08.946-06:00Highland Park - Not a huge loss.Old news, this one, but I wanted to mention it anyway -- the old Highland Park public housing towers at 17th Street and W. Juneau are history, demolished over the summer.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/530866128/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1342/530866128_8eb260b81e.jpg" width="500" height="361" alt="Highland Park, then" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/530972817/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1394/530972817_ab676c0e7c.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Highland Park, now" /></a><br /><br />Is there terribly much to regret, even for an avowed Mid-Century Modern fan such as myself? <br /><br />These cylinder-shaped structures, dating from 1967, weren't especially pleasing to the eye, apart from their precast concrete panels with their quirky incised geometric design. They were part of a superblock, a limited-access space breaking up the street grid. They have no relationship with anything around them.<br /><br />The buildings' primary purpose has already been supplanted by the new Highland Gardens building, a mid-rise structure. The towers had been largely emptied out by attrition.<br /><br />Was there <I>anything</I> good about them? Umm..... well. Though isolated on their Modernist towers-in-the-park lot, they <I>might</I> have provided more density to the area than most of the surrounding housing, which is distinctly suburban in design. Much of the entire neighborhood, in fact, appears to have been destroyed at some point and rebuilt with a suburban ethos, leading to vast, empty, forbidding streets that serve as little more than conduits for west-bound commuters after work. <br /><br />But, new small single family houses and an expanded street grid will replace the towers and various other public housing buildings. The street grid expansion is particularly heartening, coming as it is to a neighborhood that's long been rendered placeless by suburban models of development. It will reconnect these blocks to the rest of the city, and expand options for travelers within and passing through the area.<br /><br />Links:<br /> - Aerial view of the towers at <A HREF="http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=r5702r7p4xp0&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=5430723&encType=1">Maps.live.com</a><br />- <A HREF="http://escapehomes.com/main.aspx?tabid=45&itemid=493">Sierra Club report on the new homes</A><br />- <A HREF="http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2003/06/30/story6.html">Undoing 'urban renewal' at Highland Park</A> - Business Journal articleRobert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-27595383957918266772007-11-05T10:07:00.000-06:002007-11-05T10:09:20.509-06:00The FREAKIN' Pabst, ManIt'd take a hard, horrid person to dislike the Pabst Theater. It's a magnificent and intimate venue, lovingly restored, carefully maintained, integral to the history and culture of Milwaukee, and host an unending stream of terrific shows by top-notch artists. It just <I>killed</I> me when I had to miss Lucinda Williams and Susan Tedeschi on successive nights a while back.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1820795085/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2298/1820795085_596aaf4d89.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Pabst Theater with City Hall" /></a><br /><br />But. Milwaukee, do you ever get the feeling the Pabst and Riverside are kinda talking down to you?<br /><br />There's just... something incredibly <I>annoying</I> about the whole style and tone of their ongoing ad campaign of the last two years or so. Something about the random multiple font sizes drifting all over the ads. Something about the corny, slightly-too-enthused descriptions of performers (<I>"the beret-wearing singer-songwriter who looks like she just walked out of a Jack Kerouac novel"</I>). Something about having the famous hit song titles floating around randomly in the newspaper ads. Something about having poor Bruce Winter read these ads over and over again on <A HREF="http://wuwm.com/">WUWM</a>.<br /><br />It's like they're certain we've never heard of any of these people, and will only be persuaded to go if we hear gushing, simply-worded acolades from the advertisers. It's like they don't <I>trust</I> us.<br /><br />I dunno. Maybe it works! Maybe it sells tickets. Maybe most potential concert-goers really don't have any idea who Rikki Lee Jones or Josh Rouse are. But still... don't you occasionally feel like we're being regarded as a bunch of uncultured rubes?<br /><br /><small>Also, the emphasis in "the freaking Pabst, man!" should be on "Pabst", not "freaking". Don't people <I>look</I> at what they paste on their buildings??</small>Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-76681700430212980962007-11-01T22:54:00.000-05:002007-11-01T23:25:12.804-05:00The Great Gray Zone<I>Came across an old entry in my personal journal, from before I started this blog, and found it of some interest. From May 15, 2006:</I><br /><br />I spent Tuesday evening driving all over northwestern Milwaukee. The city expands for many miles in that direction, the only corner of its rectanglular boundaries that hasn't been bitten off by some other municipality. The shift into suburbia is slow and gradual indeed, measurable in tiny increments of decreasing density and increasing yard size.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1821191598/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2288/1821191598_35043a23f1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The Great Gray Zone" /></a><br /><br />I don't even have a real name for the kind of development that permeates those endless blocks. It's old suburbia, the kind now known as "inner ring" -- developed between the World Wars, or in the boom years immediately after the second one. It's more spread out than the older streetcar suburbs where I like to make my home (St. Louis's Central West End, West Philly, and now Milwaukee's East Side). But it's not the endless, faceless sprawl of modern suburbia, either. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1820466603/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/1820466603_a00d123fc3.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="The Great Gray Zone" /></a><br /><br />The buildings of commercial strips found at major intersections still come out to the street, still work to establish major intersections as places instead of just real estate. The houses still have some relationship to each other. The street wall is lower, wider, and less defined, but it's still there. There's some traces of City Beautiful planning, mostly in the form of wide boulevards with grassy medians down the middle. Small apartment buildings are plentiful -- little individual buildings that could almost pass for mid-sized houses, holding two apartments on each of two floors. The houses are compact, often small, some to the point of being cottages. Small traces of Mid-Century Modern enliven them: angled metal pole columns support porch roofs; horizontal slat fences define yards and balconies; large geometric patterns break the monotony of garage doors. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1820354187/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2072/1820354187_64d996bd7c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The Great Gray Zone" /></a><br /><br />Yet in Milwaukee, it's still something of what Jane Jacobs described as "the great gray zones" -- not the lush, rustic countryside, not the pleasant charm of a small town, yet not dense enough to support the true pulsing life of a city, either. It's a step up from modern suburbia, but just barely. Most of the benefits are superficial -- and even those have diminished as this zone of expansion has been tarnished by age. The architecture has hints of what it was emulating, but the truly superlative moments are few and far between. Demographically, almost everywhere I went last night was inhabited by black people, just like the neighborhood that contains the diminished parish of <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/sets/72057594091631492/">St. Stephen Protomartyr</a>... and long, sad experience whispers to me that predominantly black populations all too often tend to be poor and beset by a common set of social ills. Some of the neighborhoods show the tell-tale signs of decline, the early notes of people starting not to care or not having the money to keep things up. It's an odd thing to see in what are essentially Modern buildings, but many of them are pushing 50 years old now -- well past the age when neighborhoods start to get cast off by the well-to-do.<br /><br />And I fear that, truthfully, there's not much to recommend these places. Their biggest appeal was that they were new, and that they accomodated the automobile more easily than any existing cityscape; neither condition applies today. The terrain is flat, straight, and boring -- Villard Avenue, in fact, ends at a local airport. The streetscapes are cohesive but bland. The density is such that a car is a requirement of daily life. The yards are small and not especially charming. This is the new and future ghetto of Milwaukee, and once it sinks I fear there will never be much reason for it to change.<br /><br />(On the other hand, some of these areas are quite nice, in a leafy shade-tree-street kind of way. And while I mention "tale-tell signs of decline", the bulk of the buildings I saw appear to be in good to excellent condition.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/1821192310/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2147/1821192310_4458f8b524.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The Great Gray Zone" /></a><br /><br /><I>And in yet another illustration of how it's hard to see what's right in front of you... I have almost no photographs of the places I'm describing. They didn't strike me as remarkable, so I never documented them, even though I found them worth writing about. So very strange...</I>Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045845.post-12949354589318790432007-10-30T08:40:00.000-05:002007-10-30T15:34:52.373-05:00City Hall Rising... in cost.<A HREF="http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=679121">City Hall's Settling, er, Unsettling News</a> - JS column by Jim Stingl.<br /><br /><A HREF="http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=679689">We've Sunk a Bundle Into City Hall</a> - JS column by Mike Nichols, in which the author has the gall to propose tearing down Milwaukee's single most iconic pre-Calatrava building.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/repowers/166171371/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/65/166171371_f17f183aab.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Milwaukee City Hall" /></a><br /><br />Not related, but:<br /><A HREF="http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=678025">Want a really long commute? Take the 'A' train</a> - JS column by Patrick McIlheran. Man, I <I>hate</I> it when snotty* conservatives are, more-or-less, correct. <br /><br />(Of course, his unspoken argument of "BIG CITY BAD, SMALL CITY GOOD, SUBURB BETTER" dodges the issue of, who's the more successful city, New York or Milwaukee? Which one has the most valuable real estate? Where's the most money being made? Which one is drawing the most people? It also disregards the likelihood that 40 minutes on the train is far more pleasant and potentially productive than 25 minutes fighting through traffic.)<br /><br /><br />* "Snotty" because in this and other columns, there's this unspoken, passive-aggressive implication that suburbs are the one and only thing that everyone <I>really</I> wants, that all their problems are just propaganda, that they and they alone represent the perfection of some kind of American democratic libertarian ideal of Free Choice For Everyone, that the only reason those annoying cities even exist is because... <I>someone</I>, probably evil liberals, forced innocent suburban taxpayers to surrender their hard-earned dollars to give away to undeserving <I>urban elitists</I>, that the only reason anybody lives in cities at all is because freedom-hating commie terrorists are forcing them to, and that if a city advocate dares support urban development of any kind anywhere, it's going to force everyone everywhere to live jam-packed into hundred-story high rises.<br /><br />The truth is a tad more murky than that, since most of those suburbs wouldn't work or even exist without the insanely expensive government-funded Interstate highway system to function as their backbone, or without the government-funded GI bills that favored such development for decades, or without the urban core to act as the seed-germ that allowed them to exist at all. And god forbid people advocate building urban environments in the city! That's just crazy talk!<br /><br />I'm a little unfair taking it all out on this one poor columnist who does make some efforts to be balanced in his reporting, but it's a hypocritical, paranoid, unfair, and inaccurate attitude I've seen time and time again among conservatives and/or suburban advocates, and I'm more than a little sick of it. <I>We're not coming to take away your stupid mega-mansions and half-acre lots.</I> We just want to live the way we want to live, and maybe not pay for your billion dollar highway expansion that we're never going to use.Robert Powershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11639365590964995479noreply@blogger.com6